Tartan 3500 V-Berth Shelf

Intuition, our 3500,  has a lot of areas that are ideal for storage. One area is directly under the v-berth.   Unfortunately, this space is not very usable since the water hose runs right down the middle of hull . The solution, build a shelf.

This is my second version of this shelf.  The first version was attached to the back-side of the cabinet.  I believe this placed extra force on the cabinet frame, aiding in it becoming broken from the frame.

Instead of screwing into the frame, I made a separate frame out of 1" x 3", contoured to fit the interior shape of the hull, with a mortised 1" x 2" cross-member.

My theory is that the frame will rest against the hull.  Any weight on the shelf will press down against the hull, and not the back of the plywood cabinet.

And used another 1" x 2", thru-bolted to the back of the plywood cabinet, to keep the shelf from lifting,

The shelf is secured to the 1" x 3" frame.  And the final set of shelves,

I did put a small lip around the shelf to keep items from rolling off the base.  I may decide to box-in the front and back areas, so items don't fall into the bottom of the hull.

Final, useful storage,

I don't expect to put heavy items on this shelf.  Specifically, we can store the ditch-bag, first-aid kit, life-jackets, and other soft/loose items.

This provides a lot of useful space that is easy to access. So far, I'm pretty happy with this enhancement.

Don
Intuition - 3500 - #115